Junya Watanabe's First-Ever Camper Shoes Are the Two Wolves Inside You
When Junya Watanabe’s Camper collaboration walked the Japanese designer’s Spring/Summer 2026 runway, it looked like a textbook Junya Watanabe sneaker.
We’ve seen the collaboration-crazed designer deploy the same formula time and again, where an objectively strange shoe — in this case, Camper’s Tossu sneaker, featuring a curvaceous exoskeleton engulfing a 3D-knitted sock — is remade in a dark color scheme with a small hit of Junya Watanabe branding.
But it turns out the duo was saving its weirdest shoe for later.
Ahead of the release of Junya Watanabe’s debut CAMPERLAB collection — CAMPERLAB is Camper’s eccentric fashion-leaning clothing and footwear line formerly headed by Achilles Ion Gabriel — a second collaborative shoe has emerged. And this one is pretty far removed from its sneaker counterpart.
Whereas the Junya x CAMPERLAB Tossu is an unconventional sneaker done up in a muted colorway, the Junya x CAMPERLAB MIL 1978 is an ordinary shoe with a quirky finish.
The MIL 1978 is a classic leather derby except, in Junya Watanabe’s hands, it becomes a shimmering experiment. Black glitter is hand-affixed to the top of the all-black shoe, so while every pair is equally sparkly they’re all slightly different.
The glittering dress shoes arrive on CAMPERLAB’s website late this month, followed by the Tossu sneaker in early March. But since we’re talking about Junya Watanabe, the designer who once presented 18 different collaborations in a single runway show, any number of co-branded creations could debut between now and then.
Like those Junya Watanabe x New Balance barefoot shoes. And the New Balance TF100 collaboration. And new Tricker’s shoes. And another Levi’s link-up.
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